6 : An old Flame
In true form, Lauren arrived at the hotel five minutes before she’d been told to be there. As she stepped into the entrance to the restaurant she looked around but didn’t see the Handler.
The restaurant looked as it had several years back, when she’d been summoned here to discuss her first engagement with Hannover.
The bar off to the left, tables to the right. Each of the dining tables with white linen and white tulips in the centre. The staff all smartly dressed with formal shirts and cufflinks, each sporting a white apron tied around their waist covering the top of their legs.
It was all very smart and very white, just how she imagined a restaurant on a cruise ship would look. Not that she’d actually ever had the time or inclination to take a cruise. With her various roles for various organisations, there was no time for distractions such as cruises.
She turned to speak to the waiter who was greeting guests as they arrived.
“Lauren Shields,” she said.
He checked down a list on the pedestal in front of him.
“Ah yes, Miss Shields. Do follow me.”
He crossed her name out, gestured for her to follow him and walked off towards the far end of the bar.
Around the corner were four tables, screened off from one another by wood and glass partitions. At the farthest table, Steven sat looking at Lauren as she approached. He thought she looked better than the last time they’d met. Her slim figure and long, dark hair made her look youthful, the flowing dress she wore made her look elegant.
Lauren saw him smile almost imperceptibly and as she reached the table he stood up to greet her.
“Your guest, sir,” the waiter said and left them alone.
“Steven,” Lauren said as a hello to her Handler.
“Hello, Lauren.”
He gently placed a hand on her shoulder, leant in and kissed her on each cheek.
“How have you been keeping?” he said, gesturing for her to sit. “Good to speak on the phone the other day, but it’s been too long since we’ve met face to face.”
“Yes, it has,” she replied as they both took their seats. “I’m surprised you asked me to come here, you’re usually happy just to use the phone. I’m guessing this is a special case? You have a hard one you need a hand with, so you thought of me. How flattering,” she said, now looking intently at him.
“Same old Lauren, I never could tell when you were joking or being serious. As it happens, it is a very special case, but let’s order something to eat and get a few drinks before we dive into the details, shall we? I have a room here, so we can discuss business in private later.”
“Good idea, I’m starving. But, already trying to get me up to your room, Steven? This may be a special case, but I’m not sure if I want to do it with you yet,” she said, unable to stop a smile forming on her lips.
“There… that’s what I mean!” Steven said. “Even I saw through that one! Take it seriously, will you?” he added, picking up his napkin and pretending to try and hit her with it.
She laughed out loud. “OK, OK. Anyway, you spotted me on that one — missed the other two, though!”
Steven handed her one of the menus and opened his to see what was on offer.
Flicking slowly through the pages, his thoughts drifted between the menu and recalling the time they’d first been here. Lauren had just been allowed into Hannover, sponsored by Sir Anthear himself.
He’d been told about her from an old contact, who had described her as extremely intelligent but low on moral norms. Perfect for Hannover. Getting a behavioural psychologist on the general staff those years ago had been controversial at the time, but it had paid off greatly and the team had grown since.
“I don’t really like people, if I’m honest with you,” she’d said at the meetings held to assess her, claiming not to hate them, but that, “it’s just that most people are like dumb little pets, like trained puppies or sheep. Sheeple,” she’d said.
Steven laughed at recalling her say the word and the dumbstruck faces of Anthear and him.
“What are you laughing at?” she asked, now hitting him back with her napkin this time.
“Sorry, sorry!” he said, laughing for a second time. “What have you chosen? I’m going for the lamb and a glass of white.”
“Beef and a glass of red,” she replied.
“Of course, Miss Contrary, I could have guessed.”
They placed their order and the wine was poured. Alone with each other again, Steven took a sip of wine and moved his eyebrows to indicate that the wine was OK.
“It’s a good job I can interpret your non-verbal communication,” she said. “However, I’m not psychic, so tell me why I’m here and what you need help with.”
Steven looked at her for a second.
“My god, that almost sounded like plain language! Or has your Neuro-linguistic Programming talk become so perfected I can’t hear it anymore?” he joked, pulling another face to show a mix of confusion and surprise.
She looked back in mock disgust.
“I wanted you to… give it to me… straight,” she said, pausing strategically as she spoke.
Steven held up his hands in a fake surrender.
“OK, OK, I’ll tell you what’s going on! Just please stop!”
Smiling, Lauren took a sip of her wine as if to toast the victory.
“I’m not going to give you all the details, of course, you know the drill.”
“Yes, I know the routine.”
“Do you remember Byford?” he asked.
She thought for a moment.
“The Scottish guy who lost his team and some civilians in Israel?”
“Egypt, but yes, the very same. As often happens, the story gets turned around. Strictly speaking, the civilians that got killed weren’t his to take care of and it was two of his team that got taken out, not all of them. Anyway, the point is we’re getting him back on a project. One of our guys has had a little chat with him and we expect him to come back to us sometime soon.”
“And I met David the other day,” she said, interrupting him.
“Sharp as always. As you’ve rightly guessed, he’s also to do with this project, but I’m happy with where he is for now. David will soon get the attention of someone we’d like to have as a new friend, a bright young woman like yourself. However, unlike yourself, she has a bit of history I think we can work with, something that will resonate with Byford,” he concluded, just as the waiter brought the food to the table.
“Now that looks good. Well-presented, perfect size, hot but not so hot you can’t get your mouth around it.”
It was now Lauren’s turn to respond with a light-hearted look of disgust, rolling her eyes to the ceiling and sighing. “Steven! That was terrible.”
“Hey, I can play your game sometimes!”
For the next quarter of an hour they sat enjoying the food and wine, and each other’s company after so long apart, sharing occasional glances and smiles, saying nothing of note.
Steven looked up at Lauren, holding his gaze on her a few seconds too long.
“Yes?” she asked.
“Nothing, just been a while since I’ve been able to look at you.”
She took a few more bites of food and then looked up at him again.
“I enjoyed our time, Steven, really I did.”
“So did I — though I wasn’t one of your sheeple, then?” he asked.
She gave a soft laugh, realising he’d remembered her saying that from those years ago.
“Yes, of course you are,” she replied, reaching over and tapping him on the hand like she was placating a child. “I’m just not the settle-down-and-be-a-good-wife type. You’re also in no position to go all middle-aged and fat.”
He gave a sigh and raised his drink to her.
“Yes, all good points,” he conceded. “Come on, I don’t want to rush but we have business to talk about.”
They picked up their glasses. Steven grabbed the wine bottle and headed to the room.
∞
Lauren looked around the room they had just entered. To her surprise, there wasn’t, in fact, a bed.
The room was set up like an office, albeit a softly furnished one, matching the décor of the hotel. A desk and two chairs, floor-standing lamp and a few pictures on the walls.
“Oh, I’m not sure if I should feel insulted or flattered,” she said.
“Honestly, you really expected this to be a cheap attempt at getting you into bed?” Steven asked. “Come and take a seat, we really do have business to take care of.”
Lauren wandered over to the desk, sat herself down and nursed her drink on her lap. Steven filled his glass and offered Lauren a top up, which she gladly accepted.
“So tell me then, what can I help you with?”
“We have a number of subjects that we require profiles and strategies for. I need you to help me assess them based on the information I have here,” Steven said, now pulling out a tablet PC from one of the drawers in the desk.
“OK, I’m intrigued, tell me more.”
Steven flipped open the computer and started the camera. His face appeared on the screen. The computer’s facial recognition software overlaid a grid of red lines and dots across his image of his face. The red dots danced around the image until they settled on key features such as his eyes and nose. After a few seconds, the grid of lines and dots went green and the computer unlocked.
“Here are the subjects’ files. I’ll transfer this system to you later, by the way,” he said, now opening a series of folders and documents.
“This is Byford, who you already know. He’s been our man for a good number of years. A capable operative who had a mission go wrong, got a few grey hairs and had someone close to him walk away, so he figured it was time to quit. We need him back and as I’ve said, I think we’ve found a way. The special someone he lost, who we’ve now found, is Mary. Here, this is her file. Surprisingly, we don’t have that much on her, but what we do have should be useful to you,” Steven said, switching to the folder containing information about Mary.
“Kept her hidden, did he?” Lauren asked.
“Yes and no. We of course knew all about his family when he joined us. Later on, when Byford went into his little mid-life crisis, Mary went off grid and we, along with Byford, lost track of her. Until our luck changed recently, that is.”
He continued working through the folders.
“Frost, another operative, still active with us and a useful lever, worked with Byford in the past and the two of them keep in touch. The only other person of interest to me is David. I know you’ve prepped him, but we need some thoughts on how to engage him usefully, background on that is in the file too. Now, last but just as important: this is Melissa, almost nothing on her I’m afraid. She’s an ASTU Officer, that’s Anti-Subversion and Terrorism Unit. A new branch of police that is all about searching out organisations like ours.”
“I’m aware of ASTU, they were formed after the Barton Incident, when that bridge was blown up.”
“Correct, and they’ve been a small but noticeable thorn in our side ever since,” Steven said.
Lauren continued, “If I’m reading this right, you want some basic behavioural psychology applying to most of them. A little something to move them in the right direction — you’ve no doubt planned that, too?” she said.
“Of course,” Steven replied in a slightly mocking tone. “You can flick through the scenario documents later. The math boffins have gone over them and assigned a series of probabilities based on various behaviours, given certain events and their effect on the outcomes modelled for each scenario. It’s achieving those outcomes that I want strategies for, starting with the most desirable scenario…”
“Where everyone does what you want them to?” she said, interrupting.
“Of course,” Steven said again. “But give me actions and reactions for each subject in each scenario. I want to know what actions we should be able to get a certain participant subject to do, given a certain situation we can create and what the expected reaction should be from the target subject. The math is all well and good but I want a playbook with alternate paths to the desired outcome, should a certain action — reaction not go as planned. Make sense?” Steven asked, spinning the computer around for Lauren to see more clearly.
He sat back in his own chair and took a long drink of wine.
“I see. Hannover really has taken my advice onboard, then. I was worried that being so frank about how usefully simple-minded people are would be too much. I’m glad you were there, Steven, so in tune with my way of thinking.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment,” he replied, showing his usual good humour.
It was true, to a degree — they both had a somewhat non-typical view of people, which probably helped them get on so well.
“Steven, level with me, what’s really going on here? This is a lot of moving parts, I’ve never seen so many people needing profiling at the same time.”
He looked at her for a few seconds, uncertain how to summarise what he knew. There was also a lot he didn’t know.
“Lauren, it’s as I’ve said. You’re still the best…”
“Not what, Steven, why. This analysis can be done by anyone, but why these people?” she asked, interrupting him.
“I disagree, this isn’t a regular profiling job, it needs your skills. As usual, there’s a lot I don’t know, Lauren,” he began. “I heard a rumour that the Department for Energy and Climate Change called in a favour. They want some research…spirited away, shall we say. To do that they need to use our know-how and discretion. If I’m correct, a minor member of our group is the chemist with the research.” Steven turned away, worried his face would betray that he knew a little more than he was letting on.
“I see,” Lauren said, still thinking through the bigger picture. “But, that doesn’t explain Byford, or David for that matter,” she added.
“Oh, that’s an easy one,” Steven said. “David’s girlfriend is Mary.”
Lauren let out a noise that said she had some insight into the depth of the situation.
“Ah, an eye for an eye, is it?” Lauren asked.
“Something like that. I don’t know how all this wires together right now. I’m getting pushed as much as I’m pulling. But Byford needs to come back into the fold and get his beloved Mary back — David can be thrown to the wolves for all I care.”
“All right, now I see a little of the why. I can give you what you need and you can even have your math geeks run over the scenarios again to see how probable they become, with more real-world motivation in place,” she said, now looking at the picture of Melissa on the screen.
She looked at the picture more closely. “And what about this one? Name and picture, nothing more?” she asked.
Steven looked at Lauren for a second.
“A Sir Anthear lead. She’s your real challenge. I should be able to get you more on her later. For now, I just want you to keep her off our backs. However, Sir Anthear wants you to convince her to join us,” he said, keeping his gaze on hers.
Lauren looked directly at Steven.
“Is that a joke! He wants to get an ASTU Officer to not only turn a blind eye to this lot, but also defect to Hannover for the shits and giggles of it?”
Steven almost spat his wine out with sudden laughter.
“Lauren, you’re the best damn psychologist we have.”
“I’m the only one you have!”
“Yes, yes, I know. Well, we do have profilers. Point is, if anyone can work out how to get her onboard, you can. Anthear will be in touch in a few days, he’s got a way to get you near her so you can do your thing.”
“How near?”
“Arm in arm. Anthear thinks he has a way to get you inside ASTU.”
Lauren sat back and waved her hand around in the air, pretending to be casting magic spells.
“Exactly that!” Steven said in a jovial tone.
“How do we even know about her, what do we know, why do we care?”
Steven raised his hands in the air.
“Search me. Contact of Anthear’s told him about her; what, why, where, who, I don’t ask,” he said.
“Good little puppy,” Lauren mocked.
Steven got up, poured the last of the wine and walked away from the desk, leaving Lauren lost in thought.
“So, Anthear has a co-conspirator inside the ASTU, which would technically be subversion, wouldn’t it? Oh, the irony,” Lauren said.
“ASTU probably is Hannover! You should know by now, it’s rabbit holes all the way down with us!”
“With a lion’s den for yours truly at the bottom. This is a dangerous game Hannover is playing this time, Steven.”
“Just get her to join, after that she’s another story,” Steven said.
Lauren continued to look at the picture of Melissa.
She looked young, maybe in her mid-twenties, a mix of slightly vulnerable and sharply intelligent. Lauren thought she also looked mixed race; Asian and European, perhaps. There was a slight tan to her skin and her long, dark hair seemed unusual for a native Caucasian. To be ASTU she would have to be one of the brightest. When ASTU formed, it had been by invitation only. Since then the recruits had been known as the best of the best.
Creating a few scenarios and suggesting some things to do to encourage people to move in a generally planned direction was one thing; brainwashing someone of Melissa’s intelligence was another. People had free will, they were unpredictable.
Melissa would need to have a few hot buttons that could be pressed.
Steven stood quietly away from her, happy to let her think and to have the opportunity to look at her, enjoying watching her lost in thought.
“OK, but my usual daily rate of 1500 and access to whatever Hannover staff and resources I need,” she said, turning to see Steven over by the far wall, staring back at her, his back resting against a large door she had missed earlier.
“Of course, my dear,” he said in a gentle tone.
“Now as you don’t seem to need time to sleep on it,” he said, spinning around and opening the door wide to reveal the room behind was the bedroom adjoined to this suite, “perhaps I can invite you for a nightcap?”
Lauren’s eyes widened at the surprise, but she stood up and walked casually towards the door.
“I knew you wouldn’t disappoint me, Steven,” she said, gently brushing her hand against his chest as she swept past him and into the room.
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